Welcome to our Style Spotlight series. We’re connecting with people from different walks of life to explore how fashion and style have shaped their lives, revealing stories of resilience, purpose, and self-discovery.
At five years old, Morgan Perez-Rubio already knew the power of a perfectly curated outfit.
While other children played with toys, he was picking out tomorrow’s looks. He’d meticulously arrange pants, shirts, and shoes on his bed — a miniature fashion director carefully composing his daily looks.
Today, he stands in an office surrounded by racks of jean samples, shaping the product line for one of Canada’s longest established denim retailers. As the leader of Bootlegger’s buying team, he oversees product selection, giving the final say on everything that hits the shelves.
He has an infectious energy that lights up every conversation about fashion.
One moment, he's reminiscing about defunct premium denim brands. The next, he's pointing out the delicate Sashiko stitching on a rare piece he discovered for Bootlegger’s vintage collection. His enthusiasm is as unmistakable as the tattoos running from his neck to his knuckles.
It might seem like it was a straight line from his childhood bedroom to this office, but it wasn’t always clear to him that finding a career he loved was as simple as following his passion.
“I remember being in college, thinking, ‘what am I going to do with this degree?’” Morgan recalls.
Artists and architects ran in the family, so it made sense to pursue a studio arts major.
But he hit a snag.
“I can’t draw, so I thought I could find my artistic outlet there, but I couldn’t — not one that was worth anything,” he says. “So I stuck around for two years stacking credits so I could get a degree.”
He might not have realized it at the time, but his true canvas emerged in an unexpected place: an independent surf shop near San Diego State University.
What started as a typical college job became a hands-on lesson in buying and visual merchandising.
Morgan was curating items he knew would resonate with customers, connecting with suppliers, bringing in inventory, and setting it all up on the floor.
It was something that came naturally to him, which is no surprise considering his interest in style began very early in life.
“My aunt used to bring home outfits for me and lay them out on the bed,” Morgan recalls. “The pants, the shirt, the shoes, dressing me like her little doll. And that always stuck with me.”
Living with his mother, aunt, and grandmother, Morgan learned early on that style could foster confidence. By age five, he was curating outfits all on his own.
He continued experimenting with style into his teens, inspired by the multicultural influences of his hometown of Burlingame, just south of San Francisco.
Even his first jobs were in fashion, getting special parental permission to start at the Gap when he was just 15 and then working at Abercrombie throughout high school.
Still, he never considered fashion to be a viable career path.
So when he finally graduated with a degree in sociology (having shifted from art studio), Morgan took a supposedly responsible job in pharmaceutical manufacturing.
That lasted a year and half.
“There was plenty of earning potential,” he says. “But it was just following a recipe over and over. I was bored to death.”
With money saved up, Morgan took some time off in Los Angeles. He spent his days surfing, playing basketball, and indulging in his love of clothes.
“I was collecting denim like crazy,” he says. “More pairs of jeans than any human could ever hope to wear.”
But he began to feel restless. It wasn’t until he stumbled into a store called The Blues Jean Bar that everything clicked.
“You walk in and you're greeted like you’re ordering a drink at a bar,” Morgan says. “‘What wash? What size?’ They served me up seven pairs and if I had the money I would have taken them all.”
They happened to be hiring a manager. Morgan got the job.
Pretty soon he was leading the flagship store in San Francisco, curating the store’s inventory, and even opening new locations in other cities.
His creative spark had been reignited. For the first time, he felt like he had truly found his stride.
But just as things seemed to be falling into place, Morgan hit a roadblock.
He proposed a partnership with the store owner, hoping to take on an even bigger role in the business – but she said no.
“I had a plan and she just didn’t want it.”
With that rejection, he questioned whether he should have committed over three years of his life to a brand that didn’t see his potential, in an industry that was unrelated to what he had studied in college.
Luckily, his role had brought him back home to the Bay Area. He was living in San Francisco, home to Levi’s headquarters.
There was a clear path in front of him for the first time.
He applied at Levi’s, and after many rounds of interviews, he landed a job.
“Levi's became my home for the next 10 years,” Morgan says. “It was a dream come true.”
He got the opportunity to curate collections, influence design, pilot new store concepts, and much more. After his time at Levi’s, he took an opportunity at Lululemon in Canada.
It was in Vancouver that he met his wife, a fellow fashion professional whose love for style and clothes matched his own.
Eventually, Morgan landed a job with Bootlegger, and with his family now settled, his life revolves around his lifelong passion: denim.
At Bootlegger, he can finally exercise creative control over a brand in a way he’s always wanted to.
He hopes that by making quality apparel more accessible, other people can find that same confidence clothing has always brought him.
"I know a lot of people are like me — they shop with a lot of intention,” Morgan says. “So my goal is to make clothes that last, clothes that have the quality you’d expect in a $150 or $200 garment, but offering it at a price where anyone can afford it."
But when it comes to developing your personal style, he says, it only works if you do it for yourself.
“The great thing about fashion is that it’s for everyone,” Morgan says. “You don’t need to be an expert — you just need to find what works for you.”
And the same can be said for life. Morgan’s career only fell into place when he finally understood what he wanted, instead of doing what seemed responsible at the time but conflicted with what he truly valued.
He’s already inspiring someone close to home. Every morning, his young son carefully lays out his own clothes, just like Morgan used to do.
By John L. Bruce